Machinery for opening, cleaning, and subsequent treatment of textile fibrous material



Nov. 10, 1959 w. A. HUNTER 2,911,634

7 MACHINERY FOR OPENING, CLEANING AND SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT OF TEXTILE F IBRQUS MATERIAL Filed Aug. 16, 1956 Uni ed tew Pa n 0,"

. MACHINERY FOR OPENING, CLEANING, AND SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT OF TEXTILE 'FIBROUS MATERIAL William Alfred Hunter, Stanhill, Acc'rington, England, alaaszignor to T.M.M. (Research) Limited, Oldham, Eng- Application August 16, 1956, Serial No. 604,392 .Claims priority, application Great Britain August 23, 1955 5 Claims. (Cl. 19-72) The invention is directed to the provision of improved machinery for use in opening and cleaning textile fibrous materials, and to the subsequent mixing and blending of such materials, which will afford a more eflfective opening, cleaning and blending action than has hitherto been obtainable by means of porcupine openers, Crighton openers and other conventional machinery.

A machine according to this invention comprises in combination a feed-trunk, a toothed rotary beater cylinder arranged to cooperate with dirt-extracting means, means for forming fibrous material fed through said trunk into a partially compacted sheet, means for presenting said sheet edgewise to the toothed surface of the rotating beater cylinder and feeding the same forward so that said sheet is progressively disintegrated and. carried past said dirt-extracting means, and mechanical and/or pneumaticvmeans for stripping the cleaned fibres from said beater cylinder and conveying the same to a delivery outlet. I v Ina preferred form of the machine the feeding and cleaning means are duplicated, two sets of such feeding and cleaning means being oppositely disposed so that the cleaned material stripped from both cylinders is deposited in a common delivery outlet duct where the fibres are mingled in the course of their transit to the next processing stage.

One embodiment of the invention, as proposed for use in processing cotton, is illustrated in and hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, Fig. 1 of which is a vertical section through the apparatus. Figs. ,2 and 3 are fragmentary units 'as aforedescribed.

sectional; views depicting two modified'forms ofvsheetfeeding mechanism whichvmay be used in the apparatus alternatives to that illustratedv in Fig. 1.

;,.-.:Ihe mac hine illustrated is of .thevaforementioned duplextype, comprising twohverticaltrunks A and B which are-arranged. to be supplied withcotton from a balebreaker, or from two individual bale-breakers, the cotton falling down said trunks by gravity. At the base of each trunk is provided an outlet 10 governed by converging feed-plates 11, 12 and a fluted roller 13, which may be spring-loaded, rotating in the direction of the arrow X and being adapted to cooperate with a concave curved part 111 of the feed-plate 11 in delivering the material through the aperture of said outlet 10 at a controlled rate in the form of a partially compacted sheet.

Beneath each trunk outlet is mounted a cylindrical beater 14 which takes the form of a cylinder, similar to the taker-in of the conventional carding machine, having a covering 141 of closely spaced saw tooth wire. The heater 14 is rotated in the direction of the arrow Y at high speed and the tips of its saw-tooth covering 141, being directed forwardly, pass through the leading fringe of the sheet of fibres discharged from the trunk A or B through the outlet-aperture 10 in such manner as to progressively reduce the same by detaching individual small tufts. Said tufts are carried round by the beater ICC.

14 past mote knives 15 land a trash grid 16 which surround a part of therbeater periphery. The opened tufted condition of the fibres permits the removal of dirt, seed, trash and other unwanted matter by the mote knives and through said grid with a high degree of efficiency, whilst it is found that the detaching operation to which the mass of material is subjected by the saw tooth covering 141 of the beater 14, in conjunction with the restraint exercised upon the mass by the controlled delivery roller 13, has the efiect of performing a considerably more effective opening action on the fibres than has hitherto been attainable with openers using porcupine and other known types of beater.

The two beater cylinders are spaced apart and separated by a single chamber 17 into which, due to the fact that the beaters 14 revolve in different directions, the fibres carried by both heaters are deposited. The removal of the fibres from the beaters 14 is performed pneumatically, a suitably directed induced airstream being discharged tangentially in the direction of the arrow Z againstthe peripheral surface of each beater 14. The stripping action of the airstream is assisted by the knifeedge provided at v18. Conveniently, a duct 19 leading from said chamber 17 is arranged to convey the opened fibres to the next processing stage. f

The stripping chamber 17 may be bounded upon its lower side by a deflector 20 of approximately triangular section, which separates two inclined air inlet ducts 21, 22 and serves to direct the two entering airstreams upon the heaters 14 at the desired angle, as described. 7

A processing line may include two or more opening .The delivery ducts 19 from a number of units may be arranged to deliver opened material at a common point from which the'material may be distributed as desired to the hopper feeders associated with the usual scutching and lap-forming apparatus.

It will be appreciated that the arrangement whereby two beaters deliver material to a common chamber for discharge brings about an intimate blend of the various bales of cotton ordinarily fed to the bale-breaker, and that this eifect will be more pronounced when two or more opening units are employed.

If desired, the removal of the fibres from the beaters 14 maybe carried out by stripping means having a positive mechanical action, such as rotating brushes located in the chamber 17. y

In the modified embodiment shown in Fig. 2 the sheet of untreated fibres is fed to the beater 14 between two contra-rotating rollers 131, 132. In the alternative con- 1 struction shown in Fig. 3, the roller 13 is arranged to cooperate with an assembly of pedals 112 which take the place of the curved part 111 of the plate 11 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, and which are urged towards the roller 13 by springs 113.

In a modified arrangement within the scope of the invention the feed of unopened material to the gravity trunks A, B may be controlled by photo-electric or other means sensitive to the height of columns of material in the trunks, cage or other condensing apparatus being provided for delivering the material to the trunks. By feeding separate ingredients of an intended mixture to different trunks, an accurately measured blend could be obtained by appropriately controlling the rates of supply from the trunks. The speed of the fluted rollers 13 may be varied as desired.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A machine for opening and mixing textile and fibrous material, comprising in combination a pair of rotary beater cylinders, means for feeding fibrous material at a regulated rate to each of said cylinders, a chamber between said cylinders for reception of opened material from both thereof, the spaced peripheries of the cylinders constituting the sides of the chamber, an inlet duct of converging ,form for said chamber, means for directing an airstream through said chamber to strip opened material from said cylinders to mix the material ,in said chamber, and means for removing the open and mixed material from the chamber.

2. A machine for opening and mixing textile and fibrous material, comprising in combination a pair of rotary beater cylinders, means for feeding fibrous material at a regulated rate to each of said cylinders, a, chamber between said cylinders for reception of opened material from both thereof, the spaced peripheries of the cylinders constituting the sides of the chamber, an inlet duct of converging form for said chamber, means for directing an airstream through said chamber to strip opened material from said cylinders to mix the material in said chamber, said chamber having an .outlet duct the entry passage whereof is of divergent form.

3. A machine for opening and mixing textile and fibrous material, comprising in combination a pair of rotary beater cylinders, means for feeding fibrous material at a regulated rate to each of said cylinders, a chamber between said cylinders for reception of .opened material from both thereof, the spaced peripheries of the cylinders constituting the sides of the chamber, an inlet duct of convering form for said chamber, means for directing an airstream through said chamber to strip opened material from said cylinders to mix the material in said chamber, said chamber having an outlet duct the entry passage whereof is of divergent form, and wherein the chamber is of less cross-sectional dimensions at its center than either the inlet duct or the entry passage of the outlet duct.

4. A machine for use in opening and cleaning textile fibrous materials, comprising in combination two feedtrunks arranged in parallel and having separate outlets, means in each feed trunk for forming 'material fed through the trunk into a partially compacted sheet, a rotary saw-toothed beater cylinder mounted adjacent the outlet of each of said feed trunks, means in each'feed trunk for feeding said sheet of material from the outlet thereof forward into contact with the saw-toothed surface of the respective beater cylinder for the progressive disintegration thereby of the leading edge of the sheet, dirt-extracting means in operative relationship to each beater cylinder, at reception chamber common to the two beater cylinders, an air-inlet duct debouching into said reception chamber, said inlet duct being of. converging form and the spaced peripheries of said cylinders constituting the sides of the reception chamber, means for directing an induced airstream through said inlet duct into said reception chamber, and a delivery outlet leading from said reception chamber, said outlet duct having an entry passage of said divergent form, the cross-sectional dimensions of said inlet duct, said reception chamber, and the entry passage of said delivery duct being so proportioned as to create inthe reception chamber a high-velocity airflow operating to strip the cleaned material from the surfaces of the beater cylinders, to effect an intimate admixture of the constituent particles of such material, and to convey the same through the delivery outlet. p

5. A machine for use in opening and cleaningvtextile fibrous materials, comprising in combination two feedtrunks arranged in parallel and having separate outlets, means in each feed trunk for forming material fed through the trunk into a partially compactedsheeg a rotary saw-toothed beater cylinder mounted adjacent the outlet of each of said feed trunks, means in each feed trunk for feeding said sheet of material from the outlet thereof forward into contact with the saw-toothed surface of the respective beater cylinder for the progressive disintegration thereby of the leading edge of the sheet, dirt-extracting means in operative relationship to each beater cylinder, a reception chamber common to the two beater cylinders, an air-inlet duct debouching into said reception chamber, said inlet duct being of converging form and the spaced peripheries of said cylinders constituting the sides of the reception chamber, means for directing an induced airstream through said inlet duct into said reception chamber, said reception chamber be ing constricted by a bafiie located in the inlet duct, sa'id baflie being so shaped as to divide the incoming airflow into two streams which respectively impinge tangentially against the material-laden parts of the surfaces of the beater cylinders, and a delivery outlet leading from said reception chamber, said outlet duct having an entry passage ofsaid divergent form, the cross-sectional dimensions of said inlet duct, said reception chamber, and the entry passage of said delivery duct being so proportioned as to create in the reception chamber a high-velocity airflow operating to strip the cleaned material from the surfaces of the beater cylinders, to effect an intimate admixture of theconstituent particles of such material, and to convey the same through the delivery outlet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

